IntenseDebate - idragosani

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Atheists Do Not Need t... · 0 replies · +5 points

I like the Iranian celebration of Yalda, which is more or less just a celebration of the Winter Solstice and the lengthening of the days. It's not all wrapped up in religion (although it dates from Zoroastrian times) and like the celebration of Nowruz (New Year), is a secular festival. It just seems so peaceful and relaxed and free of the frenzies and anxieties Christmas brings to everyone. Indeed, axial tilt...

(PS. I'm not Iranian, I just like the idea behind the celebration)

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Maybe Christmas Should... · 0 replies · +5 points

What further drives me nuts is how you will be ostracized because you don't want to buy into the season of Greed mentality. If you don't do the Santa Claus thing, you are a horrible parent denying a sense of magic to your kids. If you don't put up a tree, you have no holiday spirit. And people gasp in horror when you say you don't send cards out, and so on and so on. The thing is, my wife and I buy each presents all year round, and we buy our kid stuff all year round (toys and stuff), so why this sudden madness to buy buy buy in December?

Of course, if people reined in their spending and instead just did things like spend time with family and enjoy their days off, the retail stores would be whining and complaining about how it was a "bad season". I think a lot of stores expect to make up soft sales over the first 11 months in the buying frenzy of December.

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - White House Responds t... · 0 replies · +4 points

It's a bullshit answer. Why do we need phrases on our money to represent the role religion has in our country? On our money? What's the context, Mr. Obama? It's already everygoddamnedwhere... churches on every corner, Bibles in hotel rooms, billboards, broadcasting, multiple holidays, National Days of Prayer, not mention every freaking Sunday (and Saturday, for some groups) these people pile into buildings for their worship. It may represent the role of religion in *some* people's lives, but not everyone's.

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - What Are We to Make of... · 0 replies · +2 points

We don't do the santa or easter bunny thing at all (even though my wife is an observing Catholic, she agrees with me on this!). I've heard people say "Well, kids need a sense of wonder and magic" and my reply is "Take your kids outside and give them a telescope to look through [or a microscope or even a magnifying glass], and give them a sense of wonder about something real they will have for the rest of their life!"

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Is This Christianity? · 0 replies · +1 points

I've seen the post before about the witch cursed candy... I thought it was a Poe at first also but I have met people who have similar attitudes -- a former co-worker refused to acknowledge Halloween, for instance, because she believed it was "the Devil's Birthday". And When I lived in Martinsburg WV for a time, groups of Christians would march around the streets chanting against the unholy night and hand out Chick tracts while kids walked around in costumes (mostly ignoring the wackos).

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - The 11 Commandments of... · 1 reply · 0 points

People do that constantly on FB also... I put them on my hide posts list.

I'll tell the worst thing I have come across is when someone Tweets or updates FB every 3 minutes while watching a sports game on TV, assuming everyone else knows what the fsck they are even talking about when they post stuff like "Oooh, I bet that hurt!" or "Why did the ref call it like that?". Isn't that kind of thig better suited for a chat room or IRC or something?

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - The 11 Commandments of... · 3 replies · 0 points

Most of this also applies to Facebook and Google+ as well.

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Before You Dismiss Bre... · 2 replies · +4 points

I agree with you, it's premature to just pass him off as insane (and yes, I think there is hypocrisy to call it terrorism when Muslim extremists do it but the actions of a madman when it's Xtian extremist).

After reading some of the stuff from his manifesto, it doesn't seem that he is necessarily a whacko, just seriously deluded and caught up in his Knights Templar fantasies. He believes himself to be a Christian Crusader defending Europe from the Jihadists. apparently there is a small group of other fanatics loosely tied with this group. It's the same mentality that was prevalent in many Europeans 1000 years ago, and indeed, I think there are many people in the US who secretly feel the same way, although they may not necessarily be brave enough to act upon it in the same way. I do wonder how blowing up government buildings and shooting youths at a camp was part of his "crusade", other maybe he was hoping the Muslims in his country would get blamed.

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Liars for Jesus: Expos... · 0 replies · +2 points

Excellent resource. I keep a copy on my phone (Kindle for Android!) so I can pull it up whenever needed :-)

14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - NBC Admits to Pushing ... · 1 reply · +2 points

Actually, the US Open was a golf tournament :-) I am glad it's over, it totally screwed up traffic for several days here in my part of Maryland (Montgomery County).

And I am also sick of how religious conviction and patriotism have gotten conflated in the past half century. And as we draw closer to the next presidential campaign, it's all we're going to hear!

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